LAMPROCOLIUS PH@NICOPTERUS. 425 
i each side three inches shorter than the two centre ones. Length, 
SRG) seyaminns7 264s tails 6 OL 
Fig. Smith, Zool. 8. Afr. pl. 47. 
i 406. Lamprocotius pHeNicortervs, Swains. 
Red-shouldered Glossy Starling. 
Juida phenicoptera, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 171. 
; Abundant throughout the eastern parts of the colony. Le 
Vaillant first met with it on the borders of the Gamtoos River in vast 
flocks. He says they are migratory, only visiting us during the dry 
season. They subsist on berries and grubs of all kinds, as is the 
habits of other Starlings, and breed in trees, or on the ground, laying 
five or six blueish-green eggs. Mr. Atmore says it never comes to 
the westward of the Gamtoos River. He saw it abundantly at 
Uitenhage, and all over the eastern frontier. Mr. Rickard notes 
it from Port Elizabeth and Hast London. We much doubt its ever 
breeding on the ground from all we could gather; we believe it 
nests in hollow trees and old woodpeckers’ holes. It also sometimes 
constructs its nest in farm-buildings, in scaffolding holes, and such- 
like places. 
- Mr. Ayres has given the following note on the species in Natal :— 
“These birds are generally to be found from three to a dozen 
together, sometimes more, excepting in the spring, when they paired 
off, They build in holes in the trunks of trees, generally at a good 
height from the ground. I have known a pair of these birds take 
possession of a Woodpecker’s nest, destroying the eggs, and laying 
their own instead, which the Woodpeckers seemed rather tamely to 
submit to. They feed almost entirely on fruits and berries, and are 
destructive to our mulberries and other small fruits. They some- 
times hop about and feed on the ground, somewhat like the Thrush 
and Blackbird in England.” Mr. F. A. Barratt writes :—“ This bird 
I met with in several parts of the Transvaal and Free State. ‘They 
congregate in vast flocks, and keep up a harsh chattering noise. I 
have also shot them near Pretoria, Rustenberg, Potchefstroom, and 
near Bloemfontein ; and I noticed them on my farm on the Chalumna, 
British Kaffraria, where they frequented the barns and buildings, 
continually flying to and fro, like English starlings.” Mr. T. EH. 
‘Buckley shot the bird on the Limpopo and at Tati, at both of which 
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